Grimes Campaign Throws Warren Buffett Under the Bus

Alison Lundergan Grimes’ campaign is blaming the host of a fundraiser for inviting controversial billionaire Warren Buffett to an event to raise money for her.

Spokesperson Charly Thornton now claims that the Grimes campaign, which paid for an invitation to the event that loudly proclaimed Buffett would participate via conference call, never authorized event host Sharon Osberg to invite Buffett to participate in the fundraiser for Grimes held at her California residence on Wednesday.

“He [Buffett] was invited by a host who has a personal connection,” Thornton toldPoliticoPro late Wednesday. “However, our campaign made clear that we did not think it was appropriate. We agree with Buffett that millionaires and billionaires should pay their fair share in taxes. However, Alison strongly disagrees with him on the outsourcing of good Kentucky jobs — just as she disagrees with Mitch McConnell’s record of voting for tax breaks that encourage companies to send jobs overseas.”

Breitbart News asked Thornton in an email to elaborate on the details of when and how the campaign “made it clear” that Buffet’s participation was not “appropriate,” and to whom that message was communicated. Neither Thornton nor anyone from the Grimes campaign has responded.

Breitbart News spoke on the phone with event host Osberg on Thursday, who said she was not aware of the comments from the Grimes campaign blaming her for inviting Buffett to participate in her fundraiser for Grimes. “I’m not going to comment on a private event,” she told Breitbart News.

Breitbart News first reported that Buffett was scheduled to participate in the fundraiser via conference call on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Breitbart News reported that Buffett had dropped out of the event.